Eagles QB debate could come down to Nate Sudfeld

What should make saying goodbye to Nick Foles, if it comes to that, easier is how good the Philadelphia Eagles feel about their No. 3 quarterback, Nate Sudfeld.

Howie Roseman, their executive vice president of football operations, basically confirmed that earlier this week at the NFL Scouting Combine when addressing the issue of Foles’ future.

“Nate Sudfeld has a tremendous skill set, not only to be a No. 2 in this league, but we think he can develop into a starter,” Roseman told reporters Wednesday. “He’s incredibly smart, athletic, he has a good frame and can make all of the throws. Just ask some of our defensive players that have faced him on the scout team. We’re excited about him and seeing him in a full offseason with our coaching staff.”

How soon they can get Sudfeld developed will depend on how well the coaching staff functions with the loss of offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo to other jobs.

That, in turn, could influence what they do with Foles, the backup who stepped in when Carson Wentz was felled by a season-ending knee injury in December and led them all the way to their first Super Bowl championship.

Foles was the Super Bowl MVP. He has one year left on his contract but is eligible to be extended at any time — unlike Wentz, who must wait until after the 2018 season, his third in the NFL, to get an extension.

Foles has been vague when asked about whether he wants to stay with the Eagles or leave to get a better chance to start elsewhere.

On Wednesday, Roseman hinted that they’d like to hold on to Foles but certainly didn’t slam the door shut on a potential trade for the right price.

"We’re trying to keep as many good players as possible,” he said, “and you’re talking about a Super Bowl MVP. He has great character, great leadership. That’s exactly what we are looking for.

“We have a franchise quarterback, a Super Bowl MVP and we have a young quarterback that we are excited about as well.”

On top of that, the Eagles may actually add another quarterback this season, as per coach Doug Pederson’s belief that the team would be best served drafting a quarterback every two years “to keep the pipeline going.”

The Eagles did not draft a quarterback last year, after moving up to No. 2 in the first round to select Wentz out of North Dakota State the year before.

Although a trade involving Foles would give them the ability to recoup some of the draft picks lost to recent trades and clear $5.2 million of extra salary cap space ($7 million after June 1), they’re not in a desperate position this year to rework the top end of their roster the way they were at the end of 2016.

Consequently, they are not expected to be hasty in moving Foles, if at all.

But if they do?

“I’m a big believer, you don't just blindside a player like that if that happens,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson added, shortly after Roseman spoke. “I think you’ve got to have that open communication with him. And we’ll see, we’ll see where it goes. Howie just mentioned we’d love to have everybody back, but we know the nature of the business. We’ll talk about it before or if and when the time comes.”

Sudfeld has limited experience. He spent the entire 2016 season on Washington’s practice squad after going undrafted out of Indiana. Washington was planning to bring him back for the same job after cutting him last year, but Sudfeld signed the Eagles’ practice-squad offer instead.

That decision paid off when Indianapolis attempted to sign him to its active roster midway through the season, forcing the Eagles to step up with a similar offer or lose him.

By the time Wentz was lost, the coaches felt so good about elevating Sudfeld to the No. 2 spot that the team never made a move to add a quarterback, electing to go with just Foles and Sudfeld the rest of the way.

Sudfeld’s only game experience other than exhibition contests was a 19-for-23 performance against Dallas in the 2017 regular-season finale. Sudfeld finished with just 134 yards, however, in a 6-0 loss that had no effect on the Eagles’ top playoff seeding.

Roseman reiterated that there’s no cause for alarm due to the team reportedly having less salary cap flexibility than anyone else in the league and facing the departure of as many as 14 players due to free agency. They knew this day was coming and prepared for it by stocking the roster to withstand the inevitable losses and possible inability to be competitive in free agency.

“We had anticipated what was going to go on in this offseason certainly last year,” he said. “Some of the moves we made were with that in mind. From our perspective, we attempted to look at the free-agent classes over a two-year period and felt like we would try to balance where our resources would go. At the end of the day, we have to do whatever we can to improve our football team. We know there are areas we have to address. We know there are areas we have to get better at from a personnel standpoint. Our intention is to find creative ways to do that.”

Roseman proved to be an expert at that long before being named NFL executive of the year by the Pro Football Writers Association of America last month.

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